Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

Not long after I resume working on my house, the rain subsides for a little bit.  Almost as soon as it does, all the goblins come out from their huts and seem eager to go hunting.  I myself am somewhat hungry, so I'm ready to go hunting as well.  I still have a half full mana pool, but food comes first.

As I get my stuff ready to go hunting, the three goblins from before seem excited to go hunt with me again, and are making their way over to my house, when the leader goblin stops them.  He gives the set of stones back to the goblin that he borrowed them from, and then also gives them the spear that he worked on.  Before they leave, he also calls a fourth goblin over from a different group, and before long, the group of three now four goblins set out with a spear in hand.  The leader goblin then goes over to the two goblins that are left alone without their compatriot, and after some communication, seems to convince them of something, before rushing off to another group of three goblins getting ready to go hunt.  When he gets up to them, he points to me, hands them something, and then the new group starts walking towards me.

The leader goblin then rushes back over to the two lone goblins, and all three of them head off into the woods, leaving me with a new group of goblins.  One of them opens their palm, revealing they've been handed the second set of numbered stones that I made.  My guess is that the leader goblin wants me to try to teach them how we hunted yesterday.  Which honestly, isn't a bad idea.  If the goblins all get good at hunting, then I can probably just mooch food off them in exchange for making weapons.

I go through the whole explanation on how to drive game, like I did with the first set of goblins.  These ones are a little slower on the uptake than the first group was, but eventually they figure out what I'm asking for, and we go out into the woods, and put it into practice.  I wish I could say we were as successful as the first group was yesterday, but sadly, we didn't get any ground birds this time.  I did get a few small lizards though as the first goblin returned, so we weren't entirely empty handed.

Thankfully when we return, the other group that was given a spear seems to have killed a ground bird, and the leader's group caught a bunch of small birds and lizards, so we have a decent meal tonight again.  Not as much of a feast as the night before, but still a pretty good meal.

With a bit of sunlight left, I continue working on my house for a while, and honestly, it's coming along pretty well.  I've gotten the walls up to the point where I've started to make windows in them.  Which initially, I wasn't going to do, but I decided it would be good to let in natural light.  They're basically just going to be an open hole with cross bars, and then I'll make some shutters that I can swing shut on the outside for when it rains.  I'm also waiting until I have the roof and door done before I make any furniture for the place.  Which means tonight I'm once again sleeping on the hard rock floor in the basement.

After I wake up, I cut some new blocks in the basement before I head outside, and when I actually leave my basement, I'm greeted by the chief with what seems to be a completed spear handle, just waiting for me to attach a spearhead to.  I'm currently out of mana, so I'm not sure how exactly to let him know that I'm unable to make this right now, but I take it, and lean it against one of the walls, and after I start moving blocks from the basement, he seems satisfied to wait for a little bit for me to finish what I'm doing.  Which hopefully will give me enough time to recharge the mana to make the spearhead.

I'm starting to get annoyed by how much rain there is here as well.  Maybe it's because I was comfortable in the cave where I didn't have to deal with weather almost ever.  In fact, this weather is making me look forward to returning to the cave even more.  That said, I've grown fond of some of the goblins here, so I wouldn't want to cut ties completely either.

Either way, when I've finished hauling up the stone blocks from the basement, I use one of the blocks to make the spearhead out of.  I just barely have enough mana to make it, but the goblin seems pleased and heads back to his hut.  I'm left with no mana again though, and nothing to do while it rains, so I decide to go look for sticks to make spears with for a while.  I imagine that the goblins probably want to arm everyone with spears, so using this down time to get the jump on that will probably help me long term.

After an hour or so of searching, I've gotten two more sticks that will make good spears, and I store them in my basement to dry out before making another woodworking knife.  I still have quite a bit of mana left after making the knife, so I resume working on my house afterwards.

When my mana runs out this time, I'm almost at the point where I'll need to start considering how I want the roof to be shaped, which means I should start deciding how I want to cut the blocks for it.  I'll also need to cut out some blocks to stand on while I work, since I'm already reaching just to slide the blocks into place.  As I'm considering my options, the rain lets up again, and for once, it seems like the cloud cover is going to clear as well.

As I'm appreciating the weather, some goblins leave their huts and seem to be gathering into groups, most likely to go hunting again.  It seems once again, I'm going to be shipped off with a new group of goblins as well, and the new spear goes with one of the two groups who have been taught so far how to drive game.

The new group has even more trouble communicating than the first two did when it comes to explaining how to drive game towards the person with a spear, so we're still in the village nearly thirty minutes after the first groups have left, and we're the only ones here right now.  It is also getting unnaturally dark.  I look up, and notice that from behind the clearing clouds, it looks like an eclipse is starting, with one sun completely obscured, and the larger one partially obscured.  I don't even have very long notice the eclipse before a goblin wielding a spear dashes out from the forest in a frantic sprint.

Before I have time to fully process what I'm seeing, right behind him stampedes out a large lizard similar to the one I crushed in the cave.  This one seems angry, and has blood smeared all around its mouth.  I have a bad feeling about this one.  The goblin turns towards us, and runs over in our direction, with the lizard in close pursuit.  The other goblins near me turn tail and start running as well.  I barely have any mana to work with as well, so I won't be able to use earth spike.  At least not for a little while.

Considering the lizard hasn't actually caught the goblin yet, it seems like they actually aren't that fast, although all it takes is one wrong move, and it's game over.  The goblin has almost arrived at me now, so I need to decide what to do.  Do I run, or do I fight?  I can at least try to fight I suppose.  If the spear breaks, I'm confident that I can at outrun the lizard, because I'm confident I can outrun a goblin.  The biggest concern will be initially seeing how easily it can maneuver itself, but I'm hoping that given its size, it won't be that dexterous.

As the goblin approaches, I begin to run sideways, gripping my spear.  The goblin runs past, and I run towards the side of the lizard.  Last minute it seems to take notice of me, and starts to turn, but its momentum carries it too far for its mouth to reach me as I stab into its side once.  I draw some blood, and have to yank my spear out and dive to the left as it tries to side swipe me with its tail as it continues running past me.

The lizard slows to a stop and faces me, before letting out a low, rumbling hiss and goes to charge at me again, but runs slower this time.  Considering that it is still bleeding, I run away from it, trying to get some space between it and me.  I want it to know that I'm faster than it, so it will have to run all out if it wants to try to catch me.  All the while letting blood loss continue to weaken it.

After I've put some distance between us, I turn to face it again.  It's still charging towards me, which means I only have a few seconds to think.  I need to get some more wounds in it, otherwise I very well might be the one to tire before it does.  I have an idea to try, but it will probably only work once.

I dash over to one of the goblin huts.  I can see over the top of the brush pile, and the lizard can see me over it as well.  Honestly, this will be pretty useful.  It's practically a premade pitfall trap.  I'll have to apologize to whatever poor goblin's home is going to be crushed like this later.  The lizard continues charging at me as I move behind the pile.  As the lizard gets to the other side of the pile, it opens its mouth as if to go for a bite.  Until its right leg goes straight through the "roof" of the goblin hut.

It's not enough to bury the lizard, but it's enough that the lizard falls in, and is momentarily stunned as its head rams partially into the dirt of the far wall of the hut.  Not to let the opportunity go to waste, I make a few quick stabs in the lizards neck before retreating backwards again.  The lizard lets out another hissing roar, but the tail end of the roar sounds a bit weaker than before.  The lizard clambers out of the hole, and begins violently thrashing the nearby area, smashing all the foliage of the goblin's roof before charging me full speed.

It seems to know its time is limited now, and it's in its death throes.  I hastily retreat again.  A hero from old folklore would slay the beast at a time like this, but that is too dangerous for my liking.  I can just as easily tire it out and let the wounds I've inflicted make it too weak to fight, and finish it.  I kite it for a few minutes, resulting in a few goblin roofs being demolished, but the lizard finally seems to tire too much to fight, and stumbles and falls, unable to lift its own weight.

I approach it cautiously, and give it a hard stab in its torso to ensure it is dead.

<LESSER EARTH DEMON>
Level: 12
HP: 981/981
MP: 55/334
Traits: Mana Affinity, Earth Manipulation
Magic: Stone Shaping, Tectonic Sense, Earth Spike